Rev up your love life: Last minute Valentine's Day gifts for your 4X4er

Help your 4X4 lover feel the love this Valentine’s Day

Situation Report: You’re a few too many beers deep, covered in grease, and Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. You’ve been so busy swinging spanners in the shed for the last few days that you’ve completely forgotten to get your bedside passenger a gift.

Having realised there’s no way you’ll get the rig back together in time to run away from your misso or your mister and start a new life in the bush; you need a plan B. Don’t worry; I got you.

You’re going to need to be brave and act quickly. But, if you follow this plan to a tee, your V-Day is (probably) guaranteed to have more banging going on than an internal combustion motor does on a rock crawl.

Step 1: The cake

Don’t fret; this step doesn’t involve baking. Nobody has time for that; the cake is actually a card. All good plans involve codewords disguised as metaphors.

Wash the grease off your hands and find yourself some paper, and fold it in half. On the outside, print out a photo of your partner’s rig and glue it on; if you don’t have glue, just cable-tie it on or use some electrical tape. Beneath the photo, write “Hey, good lookin’”, then open it up. On the inside, scribble down all your gross thoughts and feelings and tell your significant other how they mean more to you than red dirt and diesel this Valentin’s Day.

Now put it somewhere safe and keep that printer idling; you’re not done with it yet.

Step 2: The icing (for the cake… that’s not a cake)

If you want to make your partner’s heart flutter like a turbo, you can’t just give them a card. It’s 2023, and we’re more materialistic than ever. So grab one of the gifts below (remember you’re shopping for your partner’s rig, not yours), print a photo of it out once you’ve completed the purchase, and slap it inside the card.

Then hand that sucker over, but before you do, come up with some lame excuse about why the post was delayed this Valentine’s Day. For this, I suggest cracking a joke about how the courier must be driving an 80’s model 2.8 litre diesel HiLux – everyone knows how slow they are and they’ll be bound to understand.

Offroad Affiliate Rear Window Caddy

This pearler idea is the exact kind of Aussie innovation your partner will love. Well-priced and available for most makes and models, the caddy turns dead space into storage while maintaining rearward visibility thanks to a window that opens up in the middle.

Find it here: https://offroadaffiliate.com/collections/all

Zoleo Satellite Communicator

Keeping up to date with your loved ones while out on the tracks is simple with the Zoleo Satellite Communicator. Using the same network as many satellite phones, the Zoleo lets users send and receive texts, pass on location details/coordinates, and has an SOS button that sends crucial information to a 24/7 monitoring and response unit for a swift rescue.

Find out more here: https://www.zoleo.com/en-au/satellite-communicator

Custom Canvas and Covers Rear Wheel Bag

Not all rear wheel bags are made equal, and hardly any of them are made in Australia – these are, though. Hand-crafted in Western Australia, the rear wheel bags by Custom Canvas are a gift your partner will have for decades to come (seriously, the quality is that good) without costing you an arm and a leg. In addition, they can be tailored to fit your storage needs and tyre size and come in a range of colours.

Find them here: https://customcc.com.au/canvas-bags-covers/

ToolPRO-X 98 Piece Tool Kit

An off-road toolkit needs to be great quality, comprehensive and at a price point that won’t make you wince when you lose the 10mm socket. Cue the ToolPro-X kit; I’ve trashed mine in some of Australia’s most remote locations and haven’t been let down by it once. Unwilling to use my more expensive sets out bush, this set has proved to be the perfect trackside companion.

Grab it here: https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/toolpro-x-toolpro-x-tool-kit-98-piece/601462.html?cgid=SCA011318#start=11

Pro tip: If you really want to get his or her heart swooning this Valentine’s Day, perform a random act of kindness. You’ll get some bonus points if an animal is involved (like the Brumby I shared my water with here). They’ll remember why they fell in love with you in the first place, and feel better about the fact that their gifts are late “because the postie is slow.”